Food & Drink

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• Readers' Choice

• Best New Restaurant

  Oak

  When Oak opened earlier this year it captured the attention of an entire city. Six months later not a lot has changed. Chef Jason Maddy's cooking has been consistently praised, and the restaurant still feels like it's gaining momentum, likely because in addition to great cooking, the menu is relatively affordable. Not that you'd know it by looking at these… More >>

• Best Pizza

  Il Cane Rosso

  Jay Jerrier just may be building a dynasty if his recently expanded Deep Ellum pizza restaurant can continue its run. His traditionally topped rounds are as authentic a Neapolitan pizza as you can get in Dallas, while more aggressively topped pies resonate with the pizzas we all grew up on, and occasional special pizzas are works of real culinary creativity.… More >>

• Best Sushi

  Yutaka

  Sharaku, the izakaya next door to Yutaka, only adds to the latter's attraction. Have a seat at Sharaku and grab a cold lager and a skewer threaded with crunchy, gritty chicken cartilage. If you're not inclined toward gristle, you can have a regular piece of chicken instead, but either way the salty grilled snacks are the best way to wake… More >>

• Best Soup

  Tei-An

  David Chang did a great thing in bringing ramen into new popularity, but he also spurred a lot of idiots who think any bowl filled with noodles, topped off with steaming broth and decorated with condiments will make the grade. Now trendy restaurants offer shoddy bowls of soup that are giving proper ramen a bad rep. Thankfully, Tei An offers… More >>

• Best Seafood Restaurant

  Rex's Seafood Market

  For some reason, seafood restaurants in Dallas generally fall into two categories. The first, like Dallas Fish Market and Oceanaire, peddle high-end fresh grilled fish, seafood towers and $7 beers. Then the hole-in-the-wall restaurants answer with menus that feature an entire aquarium breaded and deep-fried. These places are affordable but they leave a lot to be desired for true seafood… More >>

• Best Taqueria

  La Nueva Fresh & Hot

  Bring a fan, a cooler filled with 10 pounds of ice and a gallon of water. When it's cold outside, it's hot in La Nueva Fresh & Hot, and when it's hot outside, the small Webb Chapel tortilla factory and taquería is roughly the temperature of the surface of the sun. The air conditioning is dodgy here, but it's the… More >>

• Best Falafel

  Fadia's Bakery & Deli

  Falafel has gotten a bad reputation thanks to the many Middle Eastern restaurants that fry pre-made fritters of pre-mixed batches of chickpea dough long before a customer places an order. Not Charbel Hamad. The owner and operator of Fadia Bakery wants you to focus on his handmade sweets, but it's hard to listen to him with falafel as good as… More >>

• Best Bakery

  Empire Baking Company

  Dallas doesn't exactly have a reputation as a baking town. A sea of sandwich shops selling hoagies on flaccid rolls, a dearth of bagels and a general lack of Old World bakeries have cast the city in a negative baking light. The folks at Empire Baking Company are trying to change that image, though, crusty baguette by crusty baguette. Forget… More >>

• Best Mom and Pop Restaurant

  Mesa

  The "mom and pop" label has been thrown about so much it now describes just about any small business that's not owned by Walmart. There are still a few restaurants around town, though, that are not just family-run but owned and operated by an actual mom and pop. Mesa has been rocking Oak Cliff's authentic Mexican cooking scene for more… More >>

• Best Steak

  Nick and Sam's

  While beef sourcing, ageing and handling can have huge influences on the meat that lands on your plate high-end steak houses, all end up serving about the same thing: steak cooked your requested shade and a big fat check. Nick and Sam's has a few differentiators, and their biggest is the steak sauce. Chef Samir Dhurandhar wanted to do something… More >>

• Best Margarita

  Meso Maya

  Dallas is basically flooded with margarita mix. Actually, the entire country is. It makes you wonder why politicians waste time on health care and jobs when they should be campaigning on platforms of margarita reform in an effort to root out the sharp, tart and cloying versions made with bottled mix. If they needed a figurehead, Meso Maya's cocktail would… More >>

• Best Chef

  Jason Maddy at Oak

  When Oak opened earlier this year it captured the attention of an entire city. Six months later not a lot has changed. Chef Jason Maddy's cooking has been consistently praised, and the restaurant still feels like it's gaining momentum, likely because in addition to great cooking, the menu is relatively affordable. Not that you'd know it by looking at these… More >>

• Best Beer Bar

  Meddlesome Moth

  "Captain" Keith Schlabs, the godfather of craft beer in Dallas, knows a thing about brews, as one can see from the hundreds of beers available at his Flying Saucer locations. It's here at the Meddlesome Moth, though, where he cashes in the connections he's made with breweries over the years. If it's a very rare, limited release, chances are the… More >>

• Best Cocktails

  The Windmill Lounge

  The Windmill Lounge, located on the cusp of Maple Avenue and Denton Drive, is a tiny and unassuming dive bar that serves some of the best cocktails in town. There's no valet or swanky dress code here. In fact, the bar (perhaps most noticeable by the blue neon windmill perched on its roof) is practically hidden, and if you're not… More >>

• Best Meal Under $15

  Tacos La Banqueta - CLOSED

  Go into La Banqueta and do your best to ignore the short man running water through 15 feet of cow intestine in the sink behind the counter. Ignore the grubby floors, the narrow space and the sticky counter you'll have to eat at if you don't want to take your order to go. Walk right up to the register, and… More >>

• Best Chicken-Fried Steak

  The Mecca - CLOSED

  When The Mecca announced its most recent move to East Dallas from the west side of town on Harry Hines Boulevard, the announcement carried a bit of extra news. The diner that's as old as dirt would kick off dinner service for the first time since opening in 1938. Breakfast all day had been a favorite at the greasy spoon… More >>

• Best Veggie Burger at a Non-Veggie Joint

  The Meridian Room

  At most non-veg eateries, a veggie burger is a sad, shrunken prospect, some freezer-burned Morningstar cast-off tossed unadorned onto a plate. A non-burger like that can darken the whole dining room. Not Meridian Room, though: If their veggie burger isn't made in-house, they're doing a damn good job fooling us into thinking otherwise. The patty somehow tastes juicy and like… More >>

• Best Vegetarian Food

  Kalachandji's

  Kalachandji's, the beloved East Dallas Hare Krishna temple and eatery, finds its way onto our list year after year. We're boring, we know. But we'll never tire of sitting in their beautiful garden patio, eating dal and vegetable curry and drinking tamarind tea. And after a fire in another part of the building closed the kitchen for a few days,… More >>

• Best Coleslaw

  Goodfriend Beer Garden and Burger House and Good 2 Go Taco (tie)

  Whether you prefer your slaw slathered on a taco or served alongside a burger, the folks behind Good 2 Go Taco and Goodfriend Beer Garden and Burger House have you covered. These slaws aren't the run-of-the-mill coleslaw typically served around Dallas, often too creamy or too vinegary. Feta slaw is served at Goodfriend, and the chefs (who work at both… More >>

• Best Sushi Happy Hour

  Sushi Zushi

  For the past few years Sushi Zushi has offered up one of our favorite happy hours in town. Offering the option of sitting at the bar or in the main dining room, from 5 to 7 p.m. the San Antonio-based chain serves a selection of appetizers, sushi rolls and "comfort foods" for less than $5, and drink specials that include… More >>

• Best Chicken Soup

  Herrera's Cafe - CLOSED

  Amelie Herrera opened the original Herrera's location in 1971, in the space that is now the Grapevine Bar. Since its beginning, Herrera's has expanded into several different locations around town (each is a little different since they're all individually owned), but it's the original location, now situated a block north from where it all began, that serves up the best… More >>

• Best Doughnut Shop

  Sunrise Donuts

  Sunrise Donuts knows how to brighten up a hungry person's morning. The tiny shop, located in a strip mall off Oak Lawn Avenue, is open seven days a week, from 5 a.m. until noon except for Sunday, when opening time is 6 a.m. The shop offers an abundance of delicious fried dough. There's something for every doughnut lover, from cinnamon-sugar… More >>

• Best Burger

  Bolsa

  Choosing a best burger is like choosing the best sex position. There are just too many options, and you can only enjoy so many a day. If you really want a burger that tops them all, you need a version that covers all the bases. Thankfully, Bolsa's bliss on a bun does just that. You can get a fancier version… More >>

• Best Use of Beets

  Rita Rioja at Bolsa

  Beets, those nasty vegetables your mom used to splatter on your plate, that turned your teeth purple and set your gag reflexes into motion, have gone from disgusting to a delicacy. The root vegetable can be found on menus all over town, and is most popularly served in a salad with goat cheese, arugula and walnuts. But the folks at… More >>

• Best Sliders

  Whitehall Exchange

  We didn't see these sliders coming when we ducked into the new Whitehall Exchange down the street from Hattie's. It's a small joint, just a bar, a few tables along the back wall and a men's restroom that looks like a structural afterthought, but, boy, did we demolish the Korean BBQ sliders they served up on an attractive, gastropub-ish white… More >>

• Best Burger at a Place Where You May Spot Robert Jeffress

  St. Paul Cafe

  Just off St. Paul Street, nestled at the foot of First Baptist's Godly megalith, there is a café whose burgers are eminently passable — quick, flavorful, reminiscent of some competent greasy spoon. Bun, meat, cheese, onions, tomatoes, mustard. They're not going to compete with the gourmet burgers at Local or The Grape. On a weekday at lunch, however, they will… More >>

• Best Chicken and Waffles

  Jonathon's Oak Cliff

  We cannot emphasize strongly enough how important it is to, um, "pre-game" before eating Jonathan's chicken and waffles. This is the ultimate stoner food: a sublime crossroads between sweet and salty. Sure, you can enjoy them in sobriety, but the enhancing effects of a certain herb make eating this dish a bit like slipping into a warm cocoon made of… More >>

• Best Bloody Mary

  Oddfellows

  Drink Oddfellows' house-made bloody mary and you can skip brunch. True to Oddfellows' rustic chic, it only makes sense that the BM, like everything else on the menu, tastes farm-to-table. Served in a mason jar and garnished with pickled okra, celery and olives, its flavor is sweet, peppery and redolent of fresh vegetables. Just try to drink only one. Of… More >>

• Best Arepa

  Zaguan

  Think of the arepa as a grilled cheese sandwich made with two fluffy corn cakes, but toss in an angelic choir singing "hallelujah" as your mouth and belly radiate a warm, happy glow. That's the arepa at Zaguan: fat, fluffy corn tortillas with kernels of sweet corn, gobs of oily cheese and, if you like, a pile of flavorful ham… More >>

• Best Cheap Tex-Mex Lunch

  Avila's

  No matter how broke you think you are, you can afford to eat lunch at Avila's. Skip the iced tea or Dr Pepper, order a water and stick to the lunch menu. It's pretty standard-issue, but Tex-Mex is Tex-Mex; get out of the way and, as Ron Washington might say, let it do what it do. Try the cheese enchilada… More >>

• Best Amuse Bouche

  Local's cauliflower mirepoix

  Is it possible to want to make love to a cauliflower? Well, yeah, there are probably a few websites devoted to the subject — there usually are — but even for normal people, Local's amuse bouche, a cauliflower mirepoix, might be worth the risk of serious injury and professional/legal consequences. The only problem is that the small dish of silken,… More >>

• Best Condiment

  Jalapeno Ranch at Taco Joint

  It's best to start your morning off with a kick. At least that's the belief of Taco Joint fans, who love to smother their breakfast tacos with a condiment praised the city over. Try it out: Ask a random stranger what goes best on a bacon and egg taco and the response will likely be "Jalapeño ranch at Taco Joint,… More >>

• Best Petits Fours

  Society Bakery

  Many local bakeries perpetrate petits fours, but none stack up to Lower Greenville's Society Bakery. Their version of the confectionery classic delicately stacks moist layers of cake small enough to fit between your thumb and index finger and spreads on a dense layer of rich, buttery icing. The petit four is one of the many pastries Society Bakery has mastered,… More >>

• Best Breakfast

  Rosemont - CLOSED

  When a chef who's normally responsible for an impossibly smooth vegetable soup — as Tracy Miller is at Local — turns her attention to a simple bowl of oatmeal, coffee and doughnuts, the results are fantastic. The oats are that steel-cut Irish variety that requires you to chew a little before it warms your belly. The coffee is as black… More >>

• Best Place To Take the Kids To Dinner

  The Dream Cafe

  Having children is one of life's great blessings until it comes to eating out at restaurants, where they turn into small maniacs set on ruining the dinner of everyone in earshot. For the most part, society seems happy to relegate parents and children to a fast food playground until the kids come back with some manners. For those for whom… More >>

• Best Place To Take the Kids to Brunch

  Oddfellows

  There are two different brunch crowds in the world: the people who roll out of bed at quarter past 11 and don't actually wake up until the first mimosa, and there are the people with small children who show up at the restaurant when the doors open for breakfast. For the early risers and their parents, Oddfellows in Oak Cliff's… More >>

• Best Beer

  Peticolas Brewing Company Velvet Hammer

  Hoppy, crisp, smooth, caramelly and yet dry, this one's about as refreshing as a beer can get. It's a complex imperial red ale and does a great job of hiding the clout of its 9 percent ABV. In other words, it is about the most appropriately named beer we've come across. And local or not, it's been our go-to beer… More >>

• Best Beer Dinner

  Pour Man's Beer Dinner

  More and more restaurants are offering beer dinners these days, showing how beer can pair with highbrow cooking just as well as, if not better than, wine. Most of those dinners cost $50 or $60 per person, and can run even higher. That's why it's so refreshing to see a bar with a more than capable kitchen and a great… More >>

• Best "Are You Going to Finish That?"

  Boomstick Chili Dog at the Ballpark in Arlington

  It's beefy. It's cheesy. And most of all, it's huge. In other words, it's Texas. The chili-cheese dog, topped with grilled onions and jalapeños and served in a reinforced cardboard briefcase, is nearly two feet long, weighs a pound in beef alone and costs $26. And while sharing is recommended, some opt to finish the whole thing on their own… More >>

• Best Root Beer

  Dairy-ette

  Opened in 1956 and apparently mostly unchanged since then, Dairy-ette is reminiscent of a bygone era. Or so we suppose. We're not that old. The burgers are cheap yet tasty, as are the fries. But the best part might just be the root beer brewed on site. Served in a frosty mug, it's sweet but not too much so, and… More >>

• Best DIY Sandwich Shop

  Bolsa Mercado

  Excellent, locally baked bread; fresh locally grown organic produce; delicious meats made from regionally raised livestock; and cheese supplied by local cheesemakers make for an outstanding sandwich of any kind, whether you're making the Reuben of your dreams with the house-smoked pastrami or a simple roast beef. The cost of all those ingredients together may not be much less than… More >>

• Best Homemade Bar Snack

  Holy Grail Pub

  Nestled in a shopping center in Plano shared by Five Guys and a kick-ass butcher is the Holy Grail Pub. Aside from having a damn good burger and one of the better curated craft-beer menus in North Texas, it features a bar snack that's worth the trip: baked bread twists (they call 'em pretzels) with a spicy mustard and house… More >>

• Best Reminder of Childhood

  The "Sloppy Taco" at Off-Site Kitchen

  How dare you, Off-Site Kitchen. How dare you serve food that evokes the memory of clacking down a plastic tray in the lunch room in sixth grade. What are you, insane? Maybe you are. You serve a thing called a "Sloppy Taco," which is less filthy than it sounds. No, it's actually a Manwich-esque saucy meat inside a massive crispy… More >>

• Best Indian Restaurant

  Amruth Indian Kitchen - CLOSED

  It looks like a restaurant on a movie set. There are bare, mango-colored walls, a single flat-screen television playing Bollywood, and a sheet of printer paper taped up asks the customer in big font: "Please Don't Waste Food." That's about all you get for decor. The rest is the food. It's divided into meat and vegetables, each filled with spicy,… More >>

• Best Cup Of Coffee

  Cultivar

  Sometimes appraising coffee requires more than just evaluating what's in the cup. Cultivar's java may be attractive mostly because braised beef tacos are in reach, but it's more likely because they pour one hell of a cup of joe. The folks behind the dishwater share space with Good 2 Go Taco on Peavy Road, which offers fancy gringo versions of… More >>

• Best Bar Food

  Old Monk

  So many bars relegate food to burgers, wings and nachos, forgetting all the finer menu items that go well with a cold beer. Mussels served with a Belgian ale might be one of life's greatest culinary pleasures, and fish and chips with a pub draft can border on divine. The Old Monk does both of these well, and rounds out… More >>

• Best Late-Night Restaurant

  Velvet Taco

  When Velvet Taco first opened, taco purists were incensed. What the hell are rotisserie chicken, herbed goat cheese, lettuce, tomato, smoked bacon, avocado and basil crema doing rolled up in the same flour tortilla? Velvet Taco's tacos read like a grocery list, a far cry from the simple chopped meat tacos served elsewhere in Dallas and topped with cilantro and… More >>

• Best Happy Hour Now That You're An Adult

  The Grape

  Remember happy hour in college? Beers were 10 cents apiece if you were in a fancy place where the seniors hung out, and the bar slathered you with plenty of salty, greasy, free food, just to get you to stay and drink some more. Yeah, well, you're not in college anymore. And those free wings tasted like shit anyway. The… More >>

• Best Reservation Hack

  The Bar at Lucia

  David Uygur's reservation policy is a major pain in the ass. You have to call his phone number in the morning on the first of the month, fight your way through 700 busy signals and then pray you get a 5:30 p.m. reservation on a Wednesday night. You need a personal assistant with the skills of a switchboard operator to… More >>

• Best Food Truck

  Nammi

  Compared with Austin, Dallas' food truck scene is abysmal, with more meals on wheels spurred by restaurant spin-offs and investors than hungry, passionate, entrepreneurial cooks looking for a cost-effective way to get into the food business. There are a few diamonds in the rough, though, and the biggest star of them all is Nammi, the sky-blue truck helmed by two… More >>

• Best Throwback Lunch

  Off-Site Kitchen

  Nick Badovinus' latest outpost took longer than anticipated to open, but the wait was worth it. You can expect long lunch lines even now, months after the open, as business workers in the area come to dine on simple burgers and sandwiches on buttery bread, with cheap canned beer, fountain sodas and bags of pork rinds. The Sloppy Taco demonstrates… More >>

• Best Place to Park Your 1961 Lincoln Continental Convertible

  Keller's

  On a sunny Saturday afternoon, there's only one place to park your presidential convertible: Keller's Drive-In. On the west side of the building that's responsible for Dallas' most popular take-out burger on a poppy seed bun, you might not feel comfortable hanging out with the motorcyclists who have come to show off their hogs. But on the east side, you'll… More >>

• Best Place To Try on a Beer

  Union Bear - CLOSED

  Some bartenders gripe about customers who aren't sure about their orders. It's hard to blame them when someone comes up to the bar and leans over the beer taps to ask what's on draft. Other bartenders, though, take pride in being beer sherpas. They relish in the opportunity to introduce another newbie to their perfect malted match, in hopes of… More >>

• Best Chili Dog

  St. Pete's Dancing Marlin

  Eating hot dogs is as important as kissing babies on the campaign trail, but you need to be careful. Too many tube steaks and you'll risk popping a button on that new three-piece suit. Hot dog photo ops must be chosen wisely and there's no finer opportunity in Dallas than St. Pete's chili dog, with a load of chili and… More >>

• Best Thai

  Bambu Asian Cuisine

  Thai food in America is mostly relegated to a take-out affair, stuffed into white Styrofoam containers to steam away into limp incarnations that hardly evoke their original counterparts. When Bambu opened in Richardson, though, the ubiquitous ethnic chow became more than worthy of a sit-down meal. It may be the enthusiastic staff as much as the plates themselves that make… More >>

• Best Dessert

  Carbone's Semifreddo

  Texas convention says everything should be ridiculously big. Dallas convention is that all dessert should be sweet. The two combine to result in portions the size of a The Rock's forearm, chocolate that's cloying and fruit that's so saccharine it tastes like a plastic-wrapped freeze pop. It doesn't have to be this way. In Highland Park, a young Italian chef… More >>

• Best BYOB

  Bangkok Inn

  It's not much to look at. The small house turned Thai restaurant wears more than 30 years of service on its siding. The dining room is plainly decorated and dim, and the carpet and printed menus have done their share of duty as well. That's all part of the charm, though. While most people view Bangkok Inn as a place… More >>

• Best Appetizer

  Ten Bells Tavern's Pickled Eggs

  Because you're tired of deviled eggs, that's why. Sure, you loved them when your mom made them at home to bring to picnics and tailgates. You loved them when they appeared on a bar menu all retro-like, too, but now that seven versions are sold at every Southern-fetishizing soul food and gastro-whatever in Texas, the snack is in danger of… More >>

• Best Place to Spice Up Your Ketchup

  Vickery Park

  A Sunday brunch at Vickery Park is a rite of passage for some, but it's the little things that count. Like their ketchup, which is accented with Sriracha and makes french fries disappear with relative ease. We support any restaurant that skillfully uses a condiment to enhance a condiment.… More >>

• Best Sunday Hangover Cure

  The Chicken Biscuit at The Grape

  Forget the so-called dark night of the soul. The real hour of spiritual blackness hits about 11 a.m. on a Sunday after a long night of drinking. That's when the big existential questions hit: Why? How long must suffering be endured? And holy shit, did I really drink/ingest/screw that? Take your broken essence and throbbing head to The Grape, where… More >>

• Best Ice Cream

  Carnival Barker's

  Carnival Barker's ice creams are handmade in Deep Ellum one and a half gallons at a time, in wooden buckets with all natural ingredients, no fillers, no preservatives and way less air than the big names. It's all done in a super-strict commercial kitchen by a guy who went to Ice Cream U. in Pennsylvania to learn how. The flavors,… More >>

• Best Store-Bought Dessert

  Sticky Toffee Pudding

  Tracy Wilkinson-Claros moved to Austin from England in 2004 and immediately set about introducing her neighbors to authentic artisanal British hot puddings. Her "Sticky Toffee Pudding" is a confection you heat up for maybe 10 seconds in the microwave, just long enough to barely melt the topping, and serve on its own or in a bowl with whipping cream. It's… More >>

• Best Chinese

  Royal China

  When you think handcrafted pasta in Dallas, the well-adorned creations of Nonna and Lucia are likely the first dishes to pop into your head. The intense, rich, seasonally inspired recipes change often, bringing a seemingly endless array of flavors. At Royal China, Zhang Xue Liang takes a different approach to his pasta making, and it's no less impressive. The Chinese… More >>

• Best Rooftop Patio

  Stackhouse Burgers

  As summer yields to cooler fall temperatures, Dallasites take to outdoor eating and drinking with warranted enthusiasm. While Dallas has assembled an impressive array of spaces to imbibe outdoors Stackhouse's rooftop deck may be the city's most impressive. Don't expect an expansive modern plateau with sprawling urban scenery. The roof on this house-turned-restaurant is appealing for its humble simplicity. Trees… More >>

• Best Farmers Market

  White Rock Local Market

  It may not be as big as the Dallas Farmers Market downtown. It may not even be as convenient, as the East Dallas pop-up market only "pops" every other weekend. But the White Rock Local Market makes up for these minor misgivings with a lot of heart. Despite more than 60 farmers, artisans and vendors listed on its website, the… More >>

• Best Jerk Chicken

  Island Spot

  While Dallas celebrates its recent barbecue renaissance with newcomers Lockhart Smokehouse and Pecan Lodge, a sleeper has been quietly smoking away in Carrollton. Island Spot's jerk chicken may not be as prized as a perfectly smoked brisket, but it's the best Jamaican 'cue in Dallas, for sure. Most spots use gas grills to cook their chicken or even (gasp!) bake… More >>

• Best Middle Eastern

  Pera Turkish Kitchen

  The suburbs have always been known for superior ethnic restaurants. And superior suburban ethnic restaurants have always been known for their grittiness. With Pera Turkish kitchen you get all of the flavor, intensity and passion of real ethnic cooking, and you don't have to eat off of Styrofoam and wipe your mug with a paper napkin. The kebabs are great… More >>

• Best Butcher

  Rudolph's

  Are you kidding? It's not that it's the oldest (though opening in 1895 doesn't hurt). Rudolph's meat market is the best butcher in Dallas because it's simply badass. See the links in the case? They're made right there on site. If you don't want to cook them at home you can try one doused in chili and cheese down the… More >>

• Best Cheese Shop To Not Fall Asleep In

  Scardello Artisan Cheese

  Unless you're a total fromage freak, you need a really enthusiastic staff to keep cheese shops from getting dull. Scardello's employees are more than just cheese nerds. They're actually fun to hang out with. Lance Lynn knows his beer pairings and Ali Morgan can talk brie all day. And while owner Rich Rogers will happily debate the merits of affinage,… More >>

• Best Queso

  Queso Maya at Cafe Maya - CLOSED

  Forget the Velveeta-Ro-Tel blend that many lesser chain restaurants call "queso." Even the best creamy, spicy, fresh quesos can't stand up to Queso Maya at Cafe Maya. It's loaded but not overloaded with black beans, beef and pico de gallo, and floats a few slices of fresh jalapeño. Spicy but not too spicy, beefy but not too heavy, it's one… More >>

• Best Suburban Coffee Shop

  Coffeehouse Cafe

  Far North Dallas is a desert of corporate coffee shops and breakfast joints. Rising from the dust is Coffeehouse Cafe, a sleek bar and restaurant with a massive pet-friendly enclosed patio. Even in the summer, it feels cool. And in the winter, a massive outdoor fireplace keeps patrons warm. Forget ordering from a large batch of coffee that's been sitting… More >>

• Best Italian Restaurant

  Nonna

  Nonna may also deserve an award for best strip-mall conversion. While the exterior of the restaurant is frighteningly dull, as soon as you step through the doors you forget that a liquor store and a tailor flank the restaurant and realize you're in one of Dallas' more romantic restaurant spaces. A white pizza with clams and a reduction sauce will… More >>

• Best Cheap Italian

  Besa's Pizza & Pasta

  There's no reason Besa's should be good. It's tucked into the farthest corner of an obscure North Dallas shopping strip, sandwiched between a vacant storefront and a Hobby Lobby; the prices hover just above Little Caesars levels; the guys who run it are Armenian, not Italian. Ignore all that. Order the baked ziti. Eat it. Find yourself in a state… More >>

• Best Snow Cones

  Aunt Stelle's Sno Cones

  A snow cone's a snow cone, just some finely shaved ice swimming in flavored syrup. There's not much room for a snow cone joint to distinguish itself from the competition — or so you assume until you hit up Aunt Stelle's. Somehow, the Oak Cliff landmark makes its just a little better than anyone else. Maybe it's the history, all… More >>

• Best Tex-Mex

  El Ranchito

  El Ranchito may not bill itself as a Tex-Mex restaurant, but there's a Tex-Mex section on the menu with tacos, burritos and enchiladas. The fajitas turn heads with a trail of smoke and steam wafting behind the cast-iron plate like an old jalopy with bad valves, and most things are flanked by go-to rice and beans. Semantics aside, this place… More >>

• Best Barbecue

  Pecan Lodge

  Hey, you two guys. You really want to win this election? I have one name to drop and she's a real momentum builder. Lurlene, Pecan Lodge's smoker, may not look that great — she's caked with grease and smoke, and is maybe even rusting in a few spots — but strap her to the back of your tour bus and… More >>

• Best Fried Chicken

  Sissy's

  Fried chicken is an all-American food for an all-American candidate. Grab a take-out bucket and stage it with a blanket on a grassy knoll for your next photo op. The best part is, this bucket is not a prop. Grab a drumstick and squeeze a little house-made sriracha on it. Take a bite and feel the crisp skin and taste… More >>